On Friday 29th April 2005, Keith Mann was sentenced
to 6 months for contempt of court, just after receiving a
community punishment order for a raid on Wickham Laboratories
in Hampshire.

Mr Mann was given detailed evidence of unlawful cosmetic
experiments being conducted inside Wickham Labs. The informant
wished to remain anonymous, but went on to explain in depth
the security systems at the lab.

Following up from this, Mr Mann went to look at the
laboratory, and found it to be exactly as the whistle-blower
had described. He planned a raid on the facility in order to
publicly expose Wickham, which ultimately ended in the
liberation of 700 mice and substantial paper work. As
promised, the paperwork showed that Wickham were testing a
substance called Botulin Toxin (BOTOX) for Ipsen Biopharm.
Ipsen have publicly stated that a proportion of their Botulin
Toxin is used in cosmetic procedures.

Unfortunately for Mr Mann and tragically for the rescued
mice, he was arrested, most of the mice were recovered, and
Keith ended up in court with co defendant Melvyn Glintenkamp.
Throughout the trial. the judge repeatedly refused to allow
evidence which would show that Wickham were testing
unlawfully. Any mention of Wickhams past of using ex-pets in
experiments was also silenced.

Another shocking detail revealed in the paperwork is the
use of the notorious Lethal Dose 50 test (LD50). This involves
injecting a toxic substance into the stomachs of a batch of
animals and increasing the dose until half have died. The
surviving half are then immediately gassed or have their necks
broken. This practice which is heavily criticised by
scientists was partially banned in 1999, except in the ‘most
exceptional circumstances’.

The Judge was eager to imprison Mr Mann, but due to his
role as a full time carer and a glowing parole report, he was
obliged to give him a community service order.

As Keith was leaving the court, obviously delighted with
the result, the technical director of Wickham Labs, a very
angry looking Mr. Bishop, muttered to Mr Mann "We’ll get you
lot next time." Mr Mann responded, "Your troubles have only
just started." Mr. Bishop went into a customary frenzy, and
started screaming and ranting. Mr Mann was brought back into
court, where he explained that he had not intended to threaten
Mr Bishop, and that he meant when the public found out about
the Botox testing the lab would be in trouble through the
negative publicity.

The judge ignored the explanation, gave Keith no
chance to apologise, and was delighted to sentence him to 6
months for contempt of court. Mr. Bishop's provocation was
over looked, and his blatant lie that Keith had warned him to
‘look under your bed’ was swallowed by the judge. Keith
himself has stated that he does not understand what such an
obscure, and rather unlikely threat would even mean!

As usual the media have run wild with this. Articles have
appeared in most newspapers in an attempt to slam Mr Mann and
turn the public against the animal rights movement. The
articles have all been very biased, concentrating largely on
the past and Mr Mann's criminal record, dating back some 15
years. Mr Mann has not been convicted for any offences which
were violent and he has never threatened life, or physically
harmed another being. Many papers have reported that,
according to a high court judge, "Mr. Mann carried out a
terrorist style campaign against the meat industry." They have
not noted the fact that the judge in question was a retired
meat farmer, with strong pro-bloodsports views, and that
unlike genuine terrorists, Keith Mann has never hurt anybody,
nor would he ever.

Despite the fervour of journalists digging into the past,
Wickham’s very dubious past has not been touched upon. We
recommend that in future, journalists direct their attention
in that direction. It was widely reported several years ago
that a Wickham Director called upon the RSPCA to hand its
stray dogs over to the vivisection industry - needless to say
this is just the tip of the iceberg. A raid on the Royal
College of Surgeons showed that this Director also ran a
company (APT) who supplied mongrel dogs to labs. Even to the
most casual observer, these dogs were ex-pets.